The present invention relates to apparatus and methods for making bags or packages, and, more particularly, concerns a multiple purpose convertible vertical form, fill and seal machine and method for making a variety of styles or types of bags including overlap or fin seals, pillow, potatochip, nonreclosable or reclosable, product-filled bags.
Package or bag making machines generally referred to as vertical form, fill and seal machines and methods for manufacturing individual pillow type packages with nonreclosable, midline overlap longitudinal seams or seals are described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 2,200,971 to Sonneborn et al., granted May 14, 1940 (U.S. Cl. 93-3); U.S. Pat. No. 2,145,941 to Maxfield, granted Feb. 7, 1939 (U.S. Cl. 93-3); U.S. Pat. No. 2,154,521 to Maxfield, granted Apr. 18, 1939 (U.S. Cl. 93-3); U.S. Pat. No. 2,852,898 to Berg, granted Sep. 23, 1958 (U.S. Cl. 53-182); U.S. Pat. No. 2,869,298 to Zwoyer, granted Jan. 20, 1959 (U.S. Cl. 53-51); U.S. Pat. No. 2,960,808 to Pike, granted Nov. 22, 1960 (U.S. Cl. 53-24); U.S. Pat. No. 3,055,154 to Markley, et al., granted Sep. 25, 1962 (U.S. Cl. 53-182); U.S. Pat. No. 3,262,244 to Cutler, et al., granted Jul. 26, 1966 (U.S. Cl. 53-182); U.S. Pat. No. 3,425,185 to Samways, et al., granted Feb. 4, 1969 (U.S. Cl. 53-182); U.S. Pat. No. 3,466,850 to Hudson, et al., granted Sep. 16, 1969 (U.S. Cl. 53-28); U.S. Pat. No. 3,530,642 to Leimert, granted Sep. 29, 1970 (U.S. Cl. 53-180); U.S. Pat. No. 3,925,139 to Simmons, granted Dec. 9, 1975 (U.S. Cl. 156/358); U.S. Pat. No. 4,023,327 to Simmons, granted May 17, 1977 (U.S. Cl. 53/51); U.S. Pat. No. 4,040,237 to O'Brien, granted Aug. 9, 1977 (U.S. Cl. 53/180); U.S. Pat. No. 4,043,098 to Putnam, Jr., et al., granted Aug. 23, 1977 (U.S. Cl. 53/180); U.S. Pat. No. 4,077,308 to Scully, granted Mar. 7, 1978 (U.S. Cl. 93/19); U.S. Pat. No. 4,117,647 to Rossi, granted Oct. 3, 1978 (U.S. Cl. 53/502); U.S. Pat. No. 4,128,985 to Simmons, granted Dec. 12, 1978 (U.S. Cl. 53/51); U.S. Pat. No. 4,136,505 to Putnam, Jr., et al., granted Jan. 30, 1979 (U.S. Cl. 53/551); U.S. Pat. No. 4,171,605 to Putnam, Jr., et al., granted Oct. 23, 1979 (U.S. Cl. 53/552); U.S. Pat. No. 4,144,693 to Ogata, granted Mar. 20, 1979 (U.S. Cl. 53/433); U.S. Pat. No. 4,288,965 to James, granted Sep. 15, 1981 (U.S. Cl. 53/451); U.S. Pat. No. 4,501,109 to Monsees, granted Feb. 26, 1985 (U.S. Cl. 53/451); U.S. Pat. No. 4,532,753 to Kovacs, granted Aug. 6, 1985 (U.S. Cl. 53/451); U.S. Pat. No. 4,768,327 to Mosher, granted Sep. 6, 1988 (U.S. Cl. 53/451); U.S. Pat. No. 4,965,986 to Klinkel, granted Oct. 30, 1990 (U.S. Cl. 53/551); U.S. Pat. No. 4,999,974 to Kovacs, et al., granted Mar. 19, 1991 (U.S. Cl. 53/434); and U.S. Pat. No. 5,279,098 to Fukuda, granted Jan. 18, 1994 (U.S. Cl. 53/451). Typically, a heat sealable web material is supplied from a roll and is guided to a former located at the upper end of the machine. The former folds the flat web material into a vertically oriented tube surrounding a tubular filling mandrel or pipe. The edges of the folded web material overlap one another, and, as the folded tube moves downwardly over the mandrel, the overlapped marginal edge portions are heat sealed to one another by a cyclicly operated longitudinal sealing mechanism. The web is thus formed into a web tube which is advanced through the machine in package length increments. As packages are formed by the machine, product is also filled into them by a feeder device located on top of the machine. The feeder device is driven in synchronism with the remainder of the machine and cyclicly discharges measured quantities or charges of product into the upper end of the filling mandrel. A transverse or end sealing mechanism below the filling mandrel forms package end seals in the web tube by cyclicly flattening the tube and heat sealing the two layers of the flattened tube to one another through the use of two relatively moving jaws which reciprocate toward and away from the web tube from the front and back of the machine. During one closing movement of the jaws, the sealing mechanism simultaneously forms the top end seal of the leading package and the bottom end seal of the following package, and it also cuts the web material between the two seals to separate the leading package from the web tube. Between successive operations of the jaws, the web tube is advanced in package length increments by vertically reciprocating the sealing jaws or by using intermittently operated feed belts.
In the above-mentioned patents, the midline longitudinal overlap or fin seam or seal is formed as the web material lays relatively flat against the product filling pipe or mandrel. Packaging machines which form longitudinal fin seams or seals while the edges of the web material extend outwardly from the product filling mandrel are described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,255,497 to Zoromski, et al., granted Oct. 26, 1993 (U.S. Cl. 53/551) and U.S. Pat. No. 4,691,499 to Umeda, et al., granted Sep. 8, 1987 (U.S. Cl. 53/451).
Vertical form, fill and seal machines and methods for making reclosable bags from a bag forming film and a separate plastic zipper element with edge fin seals which extend outwardly from the product fill pipe are described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,709,533 to Ausnit, granted Dec. 1, 1987 (U.S. Cl. 53/451); U.S. Pat. No. 4,894,975 to Ausnit, granted Jan. 23, 1990 (U.S. Cl. 53/412); and U.S. Pat. No. 5,400,565 to Terminella, et al., granted Mar. 28, 1995 (U.S. Cl. 53/133.4). The plastic zipper element is fed between the film edges and the film and zipper are joined by vertically oriented heated sealing bars. The thus formed and sealed tube is filled with product through the fill tube and horizontal cross-seals and cross-cutters complete the individual bags. In these machines, the vertical and horizontal seals are formed by sealing members or jaws which reciprocate toward and away from the plastic film from the right and left sides of the device.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,355,494 to Tilman, granted Oct. 26, 1982 (U.S. Cl. 53/416); U.S. Pat. No. 4,745,731 to Talbott, et al., granted May 24, 1988 (U.S. Cl. 53/451); U.S. Pat. No. 4,829,745 to Behr, et al., granted May 16, 1989 (U.S. Cl. 53/451); U.S. Pat. No. 4,869,048 to Boeckmann, granted Sep. 26, 1989 (U.S. Cl. 53/451); and U.S. Pat. No. 5,054,270 to McMahon, granted Oct. 8, 1991 (U.S. Cl. 53/552) describe vertical form, fill and seal machines which produce reclosable, edge fin seal bags or packages from a film or web having respective zipper profiles integral with or attached to each edge of the film.
Vertical form, fill and seal machines and methods for making reclosable pillow bags with a midline overlap or fin seal and a zipper element running along one side edge are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,840,012 to Boeckmann, granted Jun. 20, 1989 (U.S. Cl. 53/410) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,127,208 to Custer, et al., granted Jul. 7, 1992 (U. S. Cl. 53/412).
Each of U.S. Pat. No. 4,617,683 to Christoff, granted Oct. 14, 1986 (U.S. Cl. 383/63) and U.S. Pat. No. 4,909,017 to McMahon, et al., granted Mar. 20, 1990 (U.S. Cl. 53/410) describe packaging machines for forming reclosable pillow type bags with midline fin seals and horizontal zipper segments.
Packaging machines and methods for manufacturing tetrahedral packages are described in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,741,079 to Rausing, granted Apr. 10, 1956 (U.S. Cl. 53-180); U.S. Pat. No. 3,082,586 to Schneider, et al., granted Mar. 26, 1963 (U.S. Cl. 53-182); U.S. Pat. No. 3,090,175 to Berglund, granted May 21, 1963 (U.S. Cl. 53-28); U.S. Pat. No. 3,470,672 to Tuma, granted Oct. 7, 1969 (U.S. Cl. 53-59); and U.S. Pat. No. 3,546,835 to Mobley, granted Dec. 15, 1970 (U.S. Cl. 53-28).
Attempts have been made to provide a vertical form, fill and seal machine which produces more than one type of package. For example, packaging machines with vertically reciprocating cross-sealing jaws mounted on a 90.degree. rotatable platform for making nonreclosable tetrahedral or pillow type packages are described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,320,719 to Murray, granted May 23, 1967 (U.S. Cl. 53-182); U.S. Pat. No. 3,320,720 to Murray, granted May 23, 1967 (U.S. Cl. 53-182); U.S. Pat. No. 3,320,721 to Murray, granted May 23, 1967 (U.S. Cl. 53-182); and U.S. Pat. No. 3,332,206 to Murray, granted Jul. 25, 1967 (U.S. Cl. 53-182).
U.S. Pat. No. 4,874,257 to Inagaki, granted Oct. 17, 1989 (U.S. Cl. 383/63), describes a vertical form, fill and seal apparatus for making reclosable, edge fin seal bags or reclosable, midline fin seal pillow bags. The apparatus is shown to include two different pairs of cross-sealing jaws.
Although the above-described patents provide examples of vertical form, fill and seal apparatus and methods for forming bags or packages, there is a need for an improved vertical form, fill and seal machine and method which not only forms edge fin seal, reclosable or nonreclosable, product-filled bags, but also which is convertible and adapted to produce a variety of types of seals and bags, has a compact construction, is simple to convert from one type or style of bag to another, operates at high speeds, which facilitates the production of different size bags, and/or readily accommodates the addition of different types and amounts of product.